The Lions were looking to pick up their second win of the season when they took the field Oct. 11 at Hughes Stadium.

The Lions and the Bulldogs of Truman State University battled to a scoreless tie in the first quarter before TSU broke the stalemate with a 43-yard field goal by sophomore Mark Kamphoefner with 3:20 left in the second quarter. Missouri Southern responded with a 36-yard Brad Komen field goal 2:24 later, making it a 3-3 game at the half.

It would be all Bulldogs from there, with touchdowns coming on a 49-yard Jerard Leverson run and a 4-yard dash by Kamphoefner.

Truman would go on to win the game 13-3, and drop Southern to 1-3 in the MIAA, and a mark of 1-5 overall.

The following day, head coach Bill Cooke resigned, and on Oct. 13, Rob Green assumed the helm, by virtue of his title of assistant head coach.

Green and the Lions will be looking for win No. 2 when they travel to Maryville to tangle with the Northwest Missouri State University Bearcats.

The Bearcats hold the edge in the all-time series, 10-4, including wins in the last eight meetings between the two teams.

One thing the team will have to do in order to win is find a way to stop junior wide receiver Jamaica Rector. Rector is averaging 83.3 yards receiving per game through six games.

He is also a threat in the return game, where he is averaging 35.8 yards per return.

All totaled, Rector is averaging 183.3 total yards per game.

“The very first thing that we are going to do to counter him is to keep the ball away from him on special teams,” Green said. “Any time he gets the ball in the open field he is definitely a threat. He is truly an impact player in the league.”

“If you try to do too much to stop Jamaica Rector, then they have Andre Rector and Morris White,” said defensive coordinator Mark Smith.

“So you can’t double or triple team him, or do things to just cover him up, because they do have so many weapons.”

Even though the team is heading in to a hostile environment against the 25th ranked team in the country, the Lions still feel good about their chances.

“They are definitely beatable,” said junior tight end Cody Hilburn. “Up front (on defense) they are usually a lot tougher than they are this year.”

“Nobody is expecting us to win except us,” said junior safety T.J. Onstott. “And we all believe it.”

Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. on Saturday at Rickenbrode Stadium in Maryville.